


Bring Him Home

by babybirdblues



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: 'fixing' of problems, Gen, I think those are it, Sensory Deprivation, and then it heals again, at least with Bruce, incorrect/abusive use of restricted environmental stimulation therapy (REST), so here is where, sort of at first and then more so later, things start to get really screwed up, trigger warnings for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-03
Updated: 2013-09-03
Packaged: 2017-12-25 13:13:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/953515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babybirdblues/pseuds/babybirdblues
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’s going to go mad - madder than he already is because let’s face it, the Pit made him go off the fucking block.  He jumped a one-way train to insanity a long time ago.  Tim just - Tim made it better.  Jason thought he made Tim better too.  The kid smiled more at least.  He relaxed.  Hell, it even seemed like he had started believe Jason - and Dick - when he said that family didn’t do that shit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bring Him Home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [heartslogos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartslogos/gifts).



> Copied and pasted right from tumblr yo.
> 
> 'Woooh finally the next instalment of You’re Breaking verse (after how many months? ahahahaha *hides in a hole*). u wu Anyways this is not properly edited at all. I was going to but then I was excited that I finished. It’s a grand total of 4009 words btw.
> 
> Damian is properly introduced in this one and the brothers bond some more. Bruce is still a giant ass. More about why he is a giant ass in later instalment. (and why yes I was listening to Les Mis while writing this and deciding on the title.)'  
> This is also dedicated to Pano, In (since it’s her prompt that started the verse ; 3; <3) Ash and a few others who love it and keep asking for it <3<3 I LOVE YOU ALL I'm not sure if you have AO3s so I cannot gift it to yooou. Oh wait I can gift it to Hearts.

Sixty-two hours, forty-five minutes and three seconds.

Tim’s been missing for sixty-two hours, forty-five minutes and thirty-seven seconds.  It’s jarring, the empty spaces he’s left behind in Jason apartment, Jason’s life in such a small amount of time. 

The worst part is that Jason knows Bruce is behind it.  He’s been going out of his way to avoid both Dick and Jason and if that wasn’t a tip off then Jason doesn’t fucking know what is.

Now if he could just think - but he can’t because Tim is gone and Jason was supposed to _protect_ him.

They were going to be _okay_.

Tim and Jason.  Tim and Jason and Dick.  The three of them were going to be okay.

But now Tim’s gone -

"The safe houses in Blüdhaven are empty.  Bruce hasn’t been there in months.”

\- and they can’t find him, them, him, either of them, anyone.

Jason’s going to go mad. 

He’s going to go mad - madder than he already is because let’s face it, the Pit made him go off the fucking block.  He jumped a one-way train to insanity a long time ago.  Tim just - Tim made it better.  Jason thought he made Tim better too.  The kid smiled more at least.  He relaxed.  Hell, it even seemed like he had started believe Jason - and Dick - when he said that family didn’t do that shit.

The glass in Jason’s hand - Dick’s been forcing him to take time off, to eat and drink and _rest_ \- ends up shattered against the wall.  Dick doesn’t comment, only looks at him with slumped shoulders and a tight smile.  The water slowly spreads across the white tiles - Tim’s tiles - and looks like blood in the fading sunlight.

"I promised myself-"

"Jay.  We’ll find him.”

Dick sounds sure.  Sounds so very fucking sure in that moment and Jason’s envious because he has no illusions - can’t have them, not even for a minute.  They’re good - they were trained by Bruce, by Batman - but they’re not good enough.

He tells Dick that.  Doesn’t look at him though.  Doesn’t want to see the fucking look of pity on Dick’s face.  Jason lets Dick wrap his arms around him, lets the arms ground him for a moment before they have to go back out to not finding anything again.

——-

It’s been approximately sixty hours since he’s been in this room, in this cage.  Tim doesn’t have any way of keep track of time other than a mental tally and making marks on his arm, so, that’s what he does.  Jason’s going to be angry with him when he gets back.  But he needs to know the time.

The room - cage - works as a REST Chamber.  At first it wasn’t so bad, there was a light and mechanical noise, but slowly it was taken away.  So slowly that at first Tim didn’t notice.  Not until he began to get confused about how long he had been in the room.  A dry laugh manages to choke its way out of his throat.  He imagines he feels his throat cracking inside, blood sliding down it, pooling in his stomach, trickling out his mouth when he coughs.  But he knows that it is most likely a hallucination.  He does have water at the sink in the corner - not that he’s drank any in the last ten hours.

He’s grateful at least that he’s not been put in a Flotation REST.  He doesn’t think he’d be able to handle being in a small pool or tank.  He doesn’t even know where he is.  He was supposed to be meeting back up with Jason at their - no Jason’s.  It’s not their _(but didn’t Jason say it was a few days ago?)_ apartment.

Tim blinks before blinking again.  His head falls at an awkward angle on the bed because he swears he sees Jason against the opposite wall - or well, where the opposite wall should be.  But he knows Jason can’t be here.  No one else has been here since he woke up here.  Truthfully, he doesn’t even remember how he came to be here.  He obviously let his guard down while he was moving from the store back to the apartment.

Dick and Jason aren’t going to let him go anywhere alone for a while.

Tim finds he actually doesn’t mind that thought.  Because they’re a family.  They say they’re a family.  A real one.  Not, not one that Tim used to be part of.  One that Jack made him believe was one. 

_Because family doesn’t do that shit_. 

He doesn’t know how to be a family.  But Jason and Dick did, Jason and Dick do.  So, they have to be telling the truth, right?  At least, he thinks they have to be.  They could be lying to him.  Jack could have been right all along; Tim knows he was smarter - he and Janet actually were both smarter than most people.  Tim chokes on the imaginary - real? - blood again.  The Jason against the wall doesn’t look at him.  He’s looking somewhere to Tim’s right.  Tim would look, he would but he feels heavy all the sudden.  He also really doesn’t want to see what Jason sees.  What’s putting that happy smile on his face.  It’s obviously not Tim.

Because Tim’s not Jason’s family.

Humming softly to himself Tim makes another cut in his arm with his nail - one he broke himself.  He thinks another hour has passed.  Probably anyways.  It seems like it.

Jason moves across the wall, never looking at Tim.  Tim wants to call out to him.  Wants to ask him if they are a family.  If family really doesn’t do that shit, if Tim would do it for Jason he’d accept him.  Because Tim would do it, for Jason, for Dick.  He loves them.

A door opens on the same wall.  The light is blinding, painful as it erases Jason from Tim’s eyes.

"Oh."

The person in the doorway makes a grunt of frustration at Tim.  They shouldn’t though.  Tim’s been here a long time.  Sensory deprivation affects everyone differently.  Tim just decided to stop functioning properly. 

A soft laugh escapes his throat as he’s hauled off the bed.  He recognises the person.  He really does.  He just.  He doesn’t want to put a name to them.  He doesn’t want to remember them.  Because Jason isn’t here to help him.

Tim doesn’t want to be alone anymore.

He doesn’t want to do those things for family anymore.

———

He’s angry when he steps into the Cave.  Bruce had to leave Tim in the chamber for longer than he planned.  Jason and Dick do not - have not stopped their search for him and it is getting, quite frankly, _annoying_.  He’s doing this for Tim’s benefit, even if they can’t see it.  Jason is a bad influence and he’s starting to believe that Dick is as well.  He makes a mental note to keep Damian away from them. 

Opening the new door hidden just behind the computer consol Bruce ambles down the stairs.  This section is new.  Just added for this purpose - well not this purpose specifically but close enough.  So, even though Dick did a thorough check of the Cave it was never found.

Tim doesn’t look at Bruce when he opens the door to the REST chamber.  He smiles at something just to the right of the door - a hallucination - and barely lets out a sound.  It’s frustrating.  Because Tim will think this is a hallucination as well.  It’s going to be harder to get him back on track, to _reprogram_ him.  Especially since he doesn’t even seem to recognise Bruce.

Placing Tim on the table in the middle of the next room Bruce smiles.  "All right Tim.  It’s time to get reacquainted.”

——-

Damian follows the sound of the scream down the steps.  He did not even realise that there was a room back here behind the consol.  It was not in the blueprints at least - the ones he might have stolen when learning the layout of the Manor and Cave.

The scream is what is worrying him.  There are never any screams - of pain in this case - in the Cave, unless of course Todd is here.  But that is yelling - that is extremely angry - than screams of pain.  It is also worrying that Damian recognises that voice.  Something about it is familiar enough that he is worried.

So, when he steps off the last step and sees his father leaning over Timothy, a knife inserted into Timothy’s knee Damian is near speechless.  It takes a few minutes to find the words he wants.  Even then they do not come out strong.  He sounds weak.  (The voice in his head that he has dubbed Grayson is reassuring him saying that it is okay for him to be in this case.)  "Fath- why is Drake here?"

Bruce doesn’t even look at him.  He simply tilts Timothy’s - when did he become Timothy?  When he left the Manor to move in with Todd perhaps? - head towards him.  "Leave, Damian."

But Damian holds his ground.  He is confused and a bit scared by the look he receives.  Father’s eyes are bright with a mania he has never seen before.  Not to mention the fact that he is stroking Timothy’s face, murmuring and pressing soft kisses to it, calling Timothy son.  Damian does not know what is happening.  He feels ill.

It is only when Bruce, after many long moments of Damian standing there watching - Timothy has cried the entire time begging someone, Damian believes it is Todd, to come help him - slams his hands against the table and yells at him to leave that Damian does.  He will not admit it but it is more like fleeing than leaving. 

Timothy’s eyes meet his as he ascends the stairs.

——-

"I’m not that fucking drunk Dickie."

Dick is hovering at his shoulder.  It’s really fucking annoying.  More so when Dick just gives him a sad smile, curling his hand around Jason’s wrist.  Jason doesn’t need it.  Doesn’t need the support.  He’s a fuck up.  He broke the promise - to himself of course, but it was still a promise.  He let babybird down.  They can’t find him.  Can’t find him or get him away from fucking Bruce.  Jason should go to the Manor and -

Okay maybe he is that drunk.

Going to the Manor won’t do anything.  Dick’s tried that already.  Neither Bruce or Tim were there.

"Yeah Littlewing I did.  But we’re going to find Tim.  Right now we need to get you to bed.  You’re not going to find anyone staggering.”

That’s offensive.  Jason could find someone staggering if he wanted to.  He finds lots of people staggering.  "What the hell do you know?  I could.”  But he lets Dick guide him towards his room - the one he and Tim were sharing.  Because Tim was afraid to be alone and truthfully Jason was afraid to leave him alone.

It’s only when Jason trips over a leg that either of them realise they’re not alone in the apartment.

Jason hits the ground swearing.  He’s a tangle of limbs and half-off clothing so he doesn’t know who else is in the apartment - the person was too small to be Tim - until Dick shouts.

"Damian!"

The body - Damian by Dick’s words - by his feet is up within seconds.  He sounds relieved when he addresses them.  "Grayson.  _Todd_.”

Rolling over onto his back Jason squints at the brat.  He looks dishevelled in a way he rarely does.  Tired too.  And wait, did he sound more relieved to see _Jason_ than _Dick_? 

"What?"

Dick looks gobsmacked too, so, Jason repeats himself. 

"What?"

It’s then that Damian looks uncomfortable.  He shuffles in place.  Looking back and forth between the two of them before inching back towards the linen closet, which now that Jason looks at it is open.  Why is it open?  What did the brat hide in his closet?

"Father has been acting strangely.  I was not certain of the reason.  Until earlier tonight that is.  I came upon a - Father is behaving rashly and manic.  I do not like it.”

Jason snorts even as Dick goes to comfort the brat.  Because no duh Bruce is acting off.  The man needs some serious help.  But that doesn’t explain why the brat’s here and hiding something in his closet.  "What’s in my fucking towels brat?"

Dick frowns at him as Damian turns those evil al Ghul eyes of his on. 

"I was getting there _Todd_.  I heard a scream from the Cave earlier this evening.  When I went to investigate I found a door that was obviously new behind the consol.  I-” He pauses, going pale and swallowing.  Jason sits up concerned now.  "Father was down a new staircase.  There were a few rooms.  One appeared to be a REST chamber.  What was concerning was his company.  It-“

“ _Tim_.”

He feels cold.  Dick checked the Cave.  He knows it was thorough, it had to be.  Tim is Dick’s little brother too and there is no way in any form of Hell Dick would let anything else happen to him.  Dick’s feeling guilty enough as it is.  They’ve had more than one conversation about it.

"Yes.  Drake was in a peculiar state and Father was not.  He was not helping it.”

Damian looks so uncomfortable Jason can’t really say anything bad to the kid for leaving Tim there.  At least he’s come and told them where Tim is.  They can go get him now.  They know where he is.  Struggling to his feet Jason stumbles and nearly bashes his head off the linen closet door.  "Dickie we’re going."

"That’s not necessary Todd."

Oh he is so going to hit the brat when the world stops spinning.  "Of course it is!  _I’m not leaving_ -“

"It is not necessary Todd because as soon as Father left I had Pennyworth assist me in having Drake brought here."

Dick - who has been suspiciously quiet up until now - chokes.  "The _closet_ Dami?”

Now the brat looks affronted.  "Father is obviously out of his mind.  Would you have rather me left Drake somewhere he could have easily overpowered me and taken him again?  I am fairly certain that would have been dismal for everyone involved.”

It’s actually a pretty good strategy.  Jason has to stop himself from asking what Damian witnessed.  Because he can see it in the kid’s eyes.  There’s something there he’s avoiding talking about, thinking about.  Something he doesn’t want to admit Bruce did and could do again.  For now it’s enough that Tim’s home - even if Jason didn’t manage to protect him in the first place.

"I think you’re going to be the one who needs to get babybird out of the fucking closet Dickie."

Dick snorts through his relief.  "Yeah, you’d drop him Littlewing.  You’re still staggering.”

He is.  Right now he feels boneless though.  Probably with his own relief.  He definitely knows it’s the relief that has him call Damian over and wrap him in a hug.  "Thanks kid.  It took a fuck-ton of courage to do that.  You’re staying here until everything’s sorted.  Dick’ll call Alfie once Tim’s outta the closet.”

Snorting at the stupid - not to mention childish and probably offensive joke - he ignores Damian’s protests about getting home.  There’s no way he’s going to let Damian go back to Bruce.  Not after he went against him like this.  It’s not going to be safe for him.  Even if he’s Bruce’s own kid.

"Plus I might need help to get to my bed.  I’m fucking smashed.”

"That is quite obvious Todd."

But Damian doesn’t seem to mind too much.  He settles into the bed - once Dick has him change into some of Jason’s cleaner sweats - beside Tim easily enough. 

Jason watches from the doorway as Dick flitter around the room making sure both of the boys are settled.  They both need to talk before they join the two.  About Tim and Damian.  About Bruce.  But first they need to settle tonight.  Dick’s going to insist on taking first watch of course - Jason being too drunk to watch properly.  Bruce is still a threat.  Will be for a while - until he gets help or they make him get it.

It’s kind of amusing to see Dick smooth back Damian’s hair and plant obnoxious kisses to his forehead.  He tones it down for Tim, lingering a bit for his own comfort. 

Wobbling back into the rest of the apartment Jason checks the doors and windows.  It’s party to keep busy while Dick smothers the brat a bit.  But it’s also for his own peace of mind that he did a check too.  It is his apartment.  Well, somehow it’s become their apartment over the last few months. 

Isn’t that funny?

He has a family again.  Except the one person he thought would be in it isn’t.  He seems to want to fuck it up.  "Fuck."

"Jay." Dick is behind him.  How long was he just out here, staring at the wall?  "Just go on in.  I’ll keep watch and we can talk in the morning.”

"Okay." Jason’s too drained to argue.  Too exhausted.  Before he enters the room proper though pauses.  "Hey Dick?"

"Yeah Littlewing?"

"Thanks."

——-

Tim wakes up a couple of times during the night.  He’s dazed and unfocused, seemingly lost in where he is.  But he doesn’t flinch away from them.  Doesn’t scream or react overly negatively.

It worries Jason.

It’s enough that he expresses his concern with Dick before they leave for the Manor.  They both agree that someone else needs to be here.  But they’re unsure who to call.  That is until Damian rolls his eyes and proceeds to inform them that Cassandra is back in town.  If they would like to inform her and Brown of what has transpired in vague detail then he’s sure that they would be more than happy to help.  Or, they could just call the Titans.  They’ll be keeping Bruce occupied so it’s not like he can do anything about metas in Gotham.

Both are good ideas. 

Jason phones Cass while Dick contacts the Titans.  The more people Tim knows the better the chance he’ll come out of whatever state Bruce put him in.  Or, at least they hope.  They leave instructions for Damian to phone Leslie if anything goes spectacularly wrong with Tim’s health.  Damian looks at them like they’re stupid.

It’s normal and reassuring.  

(Jason leaves with a promise to Tim - who’s back asleep, or is it comatose? - that he’ll be back soon.)

The feeling lasts until they get to other side of the Robert Kane Memorial Bridge.  Jason can feel the tension seep into his muscles.  The crappy new-day pop music Dick’s blaring - specifically for Jason to mock - does nothing to help.  It’s only when the Manor comes into view that he realises Dick’s just as quiet as he is, if not more so.  Jason at least is twitching and drumming his fingers against the door.  Dick is nearly as still as one of the statues in the Manor garden.

"Ready for this Dickie?"

"Oh sure," but his voice is strained. 

It’s obvious Dick really isn’t.  Because he still loves Bruce.  Not that Jason doesn’t.  Because Jason really does.  He just hates him at this particular moment in time.  You can hate someone just as much as you love them.  Jason’s just not sure if that’s the truth right now.  His scales might be tipped too much towards hate. 

(It could also be the Pit influencing him.  But Bruce doesn’t even have that fucking excuse does he?)

They pull up to the door unchecked.  It’s unnerving.  Bruce has to know Tim’s gone.  Has to know he’s back with them already.  But he didn’t try to take him back last night.  Didn’t try to phone them or talk to them, try to explain his actions.

It’s a bit of a surprise when it’s Bruce who opens the door.  It’s even more of a surprise when he opens it up wide and lets them in.  Jason was expecting harsh words and a fight.  Alfred is nowhere to be seen.  Maybe he left.  Some part of Jason hopes he did.  Because Alfred was always something that Bruce wasn’t.  He can’t imagine Alfred putting up with this mad shade of what his son was once.

"Missing your kids Bruce?"

Dick flinches at the ice in Jason’s words.

Bruce is staring, a mad glint to his eyes as he takes in their defiant forms.  "I am a good father."

He is.  But he’s not.  He’s Bruce but he’s Batman and Batman can’t afford to be a father and Bruce never knew what a father could be after his was shot dead.  He lost a lot of things that night and it just kept getting worse.  Bruce never dealt.  He needs to deal.  For him - because Bruce does love them, Jason believes, has to believe, he does - and for them.

"You _were_ Bruce - you _are_.  You just.  You just let your issues take control.  You let the Mission take control and you’re hurting people.  Family doesn’t do that shit.  Family _tries_.”

Dick makes a wounded noise behind Jason but he doesn’t move - doesn’t do anything more.  Doesn’t help.  Like Bruce never did anything, never helped.  Because that’s what Dick’s decided.  He’s decided to show Bruce through action.  Show Bruce how much it hurts, how much it can fuck you up.

Because Bruce did fuck them up, all of them.  Little boy Robin sitting on a ledge, one finds his wings one ends up dead, little pretender numbered three, will the fourth ending up dead finally make him see?  Not that Damian’s dead - yet.  Who knows how long that will last at the rate Bruce is going?  Even though he’s actually Bruce’s son - and that’s supposed to mean Bruce loves him more.  Fat fucking chance.

Love is hard when you’re as fucked up as Bruce is.

Jason might be fucking livid.

It took months to get Tim to trust him.  Months to get him to _believe_ him.  Bruce probably destroyed that in less than three days.  Less than three fucking days, so, he’s really tempted to punch Bruce in the face and be done with it.  But Dick’s pulling on his arm and trying to get him to leave the Manor.

That’s right.

There’s no point doing this.  Not when Bruce is so set in his ways.  It’s not like punching him in the face is going to change anything.  It’ll probably just make Bruce think he’s right in thinking Jason’s a bad influence.  Maybe he is.  Maybe he fucking needs to be.

Anyways, he promised Tim - and Damian in turn - he’d only be a bit.  He can keep that promise.  (It’ll be the only promise in the last few days he’ll have been able to keep.)  He can’t help but look at Bruce for a few more minutes though.  He can’t help but just stare at him and not react to the useless words now pouring out of his mouth.  The ones Dick is pointedly ignoring - and probably feeling a lot of pain over.

Jason has a feeling he’s going to be feeling sorry for Damian in the next coming months.  He already feels sorry for the rest of them.  He just never thought he’d have to feel sorry for the brat.

If he were Dick he’d probably cry for them all.

He doesn’t.

Just turns and lets Dick lead him out of the Manor.  He hopes his words echo around the entrance hall for a while.

"You better get some fucking help Bruce."


End file.
